Wood defeats Wick for Spokane Valley City Council seat

Spokane Valley City Councilman Ben Wick has lost his re-election bid to Sam Wood.

Wood, a real estate agent and appraiser, has a 99-vote lead over Wick in the latest ballot count, which was released Monday afternoon. Nearly all the ballots have been counted.

Wood, who serves on the Spokane Valley planning commission, said he was surprised and humbled.

“I never thought I’d see the end of it,” Wood said. “On election night, Ben was up by 146 votes, and I thought that was it.”

But the race shifted Wood’s way in later counting.

Wood, who was backed by all three of Spokane Valley’s state legislators, has 50.3 percent of the vote to Wick’s 49.7 percent. The difference falls just outside the amount that would force an automatic recount.

The candidates would have to be within half a percentage point for the election office to perform a recount.

More than 3,000 Spokane Valley voters who cast ballots left the Wick-Wood race blank.

“I have no idea why that is,” Wood said. “Maybe they couldn’t make up their minds?”